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Town Turns Off the Lights To See the Stars
Hugh Pickens writes "Stargazing skies all over the world are disappearing, as the sky above New York City is Class 9 on the Bortle ranking and American suburban skies are typically Class 5, 6, or 7. But some places are making an effort to preserve their skywatching heritage as Exmoor National Park was granted International Dark-Sky Reserve status in November and people in the Exmoor town of Dulverton were challenged to switch off their lights as part of the BBC's Stargazing Live, demonstrating that you don't need special equipment to see the stars more clearly, if you have a decent pair of binoculars. 'The whole idea is to show that even a small town, which is still quite dark, can give off quite a lot of light,' says astronomer Mark Thompson. The event in Dulverton gained a lot of support from local residents and businesses. 'It needed a bit of organization to get everyone to say yes,' says town mayor Chris Nelder. 'We want people to just enjoy the night sky, to treasure the fact we have them and to look after them,' adds Claire O'Connor from Exmoor National Park Authority."
Wish my town would do this from time to time!
I live in a very dark neighborhood... no streetlights within about a mile, and lots of trees (makes stargazing... challenging.) Unfortunately, some of the neighbors don't feel safe unless they leave lights running all night long. It's a very basic human trait: fear of the dark. We have less crime in my dark neighborhood than many nearby well-lit ones, but facts don't erase fear.
I've always lived in semi-rural or town areas in a fairly packed part of the UK. You can see a few stars on a good clear night but there's still a lot of light polution.
I recently went on holiday to a farm in the middle of nowhere in the Yorkshire Dales. I was utterly astounded to find out you can actually see the Milky Way at night - it blew me away. I spent hours just lying on my back in the grass with my mouth open. Wine probably helped. I feel so bad I've missed such a wonder for all these years.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
It could just be security theatre. People are evolved/inculcated with fear of the dark, so lights make them feel safer. Is there any good evidence to show that providing street lighting makes things safer than people carrying their own light with them?
Korma: Good
That was my comment on the BBC article (which was subsequently voted into oblivion). The street near my friend's house has had its street lighting turned off at night recently (though for energy-saving purposes, not stargazing) and within a month there were two rapes and an assault right there on the street. It is not something I would have thought of right away, but speak to any woman who has ever had to walk home at night, alone, and they will tell you they feel much safer under street lights.
National Geographic mentioned this in an article on this a few years ago on light pollution (I'm too lazy to go find it). A lot of cities are slowing making the transition to lights that only shine downward and waste little into the sky. It's serves the dual purpose of 1) saving energy and 2) cutting down on light pollution.
The main reasons for street lighting is to make obstacles and pedestrians more visible to motorists, to allow pedestrians to move around without carrying a torch, and to make them feel safer.
In this case, they'd closed the roads around the town for this stunt, so no need for worrying about cars, and a good fraction of the population of the town was out on the street, so there were fewer empty dark back alleys down which to get stabbed (plus it's a small rural town; if it's anything like mine crime is generally livestock related...), and everyone there knew about it months in advance, so I'd expect they were stocked up on torches and batteries. It was just a shame it was so cloudy!
If you have never seen the stars without light pollution, go to somewhere in the middle of nowhere and have a look. It's quite hard to do in the UK, as our population density (and thus light pollution) is many times that of the US, so there aren't many really empty places left. It's a real tragedy that for a little convenience and marginal extra safety we've given up our window seat at the edge of the rest of the universe.
"Always consider the possibility that installing a light may aid criminal activity."
http://www.britastro.org/dark-skies/crime.html#noreduction
Bad guys who wave flashlights are easier to spot than bad guys who don't need extra lighting.
Operator, give me the number for 911!
More info over at www.darksky.org . It costs a lot of money/oil to keep all those lights on. Is it worth it? Have your children seen the milky way?
Computers obey me.
People may say they feel whatever, but there are plenty of studies that show no correlation, or even an increase in crime.
Light can be a great help to criminals. Not least of which they're easier to spot when waving a flashlight. Also, if your under a streetlight, EVERYBODY NOT under a light is automatically hidden from you. But when everyone is in equal lighting and can see equally, it's harder to hide.
It's amazing how many people don't even know their eyes will adjust.
Most probably some types of crime will go up and others will go down. I'll leave it to you type "street lights crime study" into google.
Operator, give me the number for 911!
About 35 years ago I got the chance to sail to Hawaii from San Francisco in a small (31') sail boat. Believe me, when you are 1000 miles from the nearest light the night sky is astounding. It is very obvious why the ancient people put so much stock in the night sky: it hangs over you like a presence you can feel.
More recently I used to go to Death Valley for a good night sky, but that is becoming increasingly problematic. Even when there is no moon, there is so much light from Las Vegas and Los Angeles it looks like the moon about to rise (in two places!). *snif*
This would be reduced significantly.
Honestly, the U of M did this. they threw away all the crap street and building exterior lighting and replaced them with fixtures that do not waste light by spraying it upwards and sideways. All light is controlled.
IT made a huge difference to the light pollution around their observatory on campus.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
My experience is that people who spent their formative years in the city feel more secure with more light, those who grew up in the country feel more secure with less light.
I wish the cruise ships I'd travelled on had done this. It would have been awesome being in the middle of the ocean and seeing the stars. But no... the whole upper deck was brilliantly lit and there were strings of multicolored party lights hanging over the deck.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Crime is very low in Flagstaff, in fact among the lowest in the state: http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/az/crime/
Flagstaff was the first Dark Sky City in the world, and achieved that by making nearly all outdoor lighting Low-Pressure Sodium (LPS) emission lamps. LPS is much lower power than High Pressure Sodium or Mercury (the typical alternatives), thus saving the city massive amounts of money on energy bills. In addition, LPS is monochromatic, making it easily blocked by even mildly sophisticated amateur astronomers. And the minimal skyglow has allowed the local research telescopes to survive, thus pumping tens of millions of dollars into the local economy.
Speaking as a professional (and occasional amateur) astronomer, Flagstaff is much, much better off because its Dark Skies.